


Maya Interviews Adachi

by doompatrol7



Category: Persona 2, Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Gen, Other characters mentioned - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 11:59:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18365570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doompatrol7/pseuds/doompatrol7
Summary: An optimistic journalist meets a nihilistic serial killer. What will happen?





	Maya Interviews Adachi

The serial killing case in Inaba had reached national attention.  
  
It wasn’t long until the name Tohru Adachi was on every TV and newspaper stand in the country, all branding him the detective who betrayed his duty and people. He was a pariah if there ever was one, the most recent in a long line of heinous criminals for the people and media to direct their rage at. A monster, irredeemable, who killed 2 innocent people, one of them a high schooler, and gruesomely hung their bodies on TV antennas and telephone poles, not to mention his connections to the kidnappings by Nametame and the copycat murderer. Truly, if rumors still became reality, he would be evil incarnate.  
  
And Maya Amano was on her way to interview him.  
  
After she wrote her critically acclaimed story on the JOKER killings all those years ago and _Coolest_ sales received a huge boost, her boss Mizuno had insisted she continue in that avenue, writing on murders and serial killings whenever the opportunity arose. It was her calling, Mizuno said, what she was best at. At that point, she started to steer the magazine’s focus away from teens to more ‘adult fair’. Truthfully, Maya wanted to write about high school and nostalgic memories and cute puppies like many of her coworkers did, but she had to accept that wasn’t how things turned out. Mizuno wasn’t wrong that people ate this stuff up. Still, she loved journalism, even if it wasn’t always the happiest job, and prided herself on approaching her work with a uniquely optimistic and personal viewpoint that remained popular among readers. This upcoming interview with Adachi was the best get _Coolest_ had achieved on that front in years, serial killings weren’t too common in Japan after all, and Maya knew that she couldn’t mess it up. That didn’t help with her nerves, though, still there after all this time. As always, she needed to think positive!  
  
The drive to the prison was a hassle, as a terrible storm tore up the area. There were so many clouds it was dark as night even though it was early afternoon, and the deadly mix of rain and wind continually hampered her vision. As the maelstrom pounded her beat-up car, she pulled up to the front gates of the prison, almost crashing right into them, slamming the brakes with a screech of her tires. This startled the guards, and one, bracing the weather, jogged up and motioned for her to lower her window.  
  
“Jeez, how’d you get your license lady?!” he yelled over the deafening storm.  
  
She winced, both from the insult and the sudden blast of moist wind hitting her in the face, but recovered and plastered an apologetic smile on her face. “Sorry!”  
  
“Anyway, what’re you here for?! Make it quick, this storm is a bitch!”  
  
“I’m a journalist, here to interview an inmate!” Pulling papers from her bag, she held out her credentials. The guard uselessly wiped the waterfall of rain covering his face and squinted to check the legitimacy of the papers, which were themselves quickly dampening. His eyes widened.  
  
“Him?! Well, it’s your funeral!” He laughed, turned, and motioned with his hands for the gates to be opened. The other guards did as they were told, and Maya sped in, not noticing it wasn’t fully opened yet, nearly scratching her car in the process. After a shoddy park job, she peered up at the building through the torrent on her windshield, the blurriness causing it to look like an amorphous blob, an indescribable black mass of suffering and broken dreams. Perhaps the nerves were getting to her…  
  
…  
  
The room the interview was to be conducted in was sparsely decorated, as they tended to be when interviewing notable inmates. It was entirely made of grey concrete, and reminded Maya of a dungeon. Two wooden chairs faced each other with a table in between, a security camera in the corner constantly on watch. Besides ceiling lights to illuminate the room and a clock, all else that was there was a single, jarringly colorful poster on the wall, showing a prison guard with intense eyes and the text **_WE’RE WATCHING YOU_**. It was behind her, meant for the prisoners to see, and she could feel its stare boring into the back of her head. The storm could be faintly heard buffeting the roof even from this pit in the ground.  
  
She almost jumped when the door opened, two guards flanking a lone prisoner as Tohru Adachi shuffled forward, his handcuffs rattling with each step. He wore a traditional prison jumpsuit, and… well, that was all that really stood out about him. Maya had obviously seen what he looked like before, but witnessing him in person really drove home what a slight, unassuming man he truly was. But, really, that wasn’t exactly uncommon with the killers she had met over the years. They were often the people you least expected.  
  
“We’ll be right outside Ms. Amano, call us if you need anything,” one of the guards said as Adachi sat across from her. He already appeared disinterested, his eyes half-lidded and focusing on the poster more than her.  
  
“Thank you,” she replied sincerely, watching them leave. Searching though her bag, she took out a pen and paper with pre-written questions (she liked the old-fashioned way), and waited until she heard the door shut. “Hello, Mr. Adachi! My name is Maya Amano, a journalist from _Coolest_ , but you probably already know that. How are you today?”  
  
His eyelids twitched a little. “How am I…? How do you think I am?” he asked.  
  
She shrugged. “I always ask that first, even if the answer seems obvious. Sometimes I get surprising answers!”  
  
Adachi sighed and slumped in his chair. “I’m fine, I guess.”  
  
She glanced down at her list of questions, eyes catching the first one she wrote. All it said was **WHY?** in large letters that were scribbled in deep. Right below was **WHY DID YOU DO IT?** They were the first questions she wrote every time, but maybe the start of the interview wasn’t the best moment for them. “Good! Now-“  
  
“Do we really need to do this?” he interrupted, so far down the chair he looked like he was going to slide to the floor. “So many people want to interview me, but don’t you think that’s sick? Why does anyone care what I have to say anymore now that I’m a convicted murderer?”  
  
Few serial killers showed remorse, many showed pride, but his tone of voice did not indicate either. But it wasn’t exactly neutral either, it was monotone, self-aware. He wasn’t diagnosed a sociopath or a psychopath during his psych evaluations, though he exhibited symptoms of both, which made it all even stranger. She decided to go off this. “That response interests me, Adachi. You gave me great inspiration for a question! Ahem…” She said it with no shortness of passive aggressiveness, causing Adachi to narrow his eyes. _Great first impression, Maya!_ “What do you think about yourself and your crimes now that you’ve had time to reflect?”  
  
He rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’ll go along… I got caught, I’ll serve my time until its up, if it ever is up,” he replied, staring up at the ceiling. “That’s all I think about it. But I know what others think. They hate me. I’m reminded every time a guard or a cop or another prisoner decides to sucker punch me. But… meh. That’s just how it is.”  
  
“And why do you believe you’re so hated?” she asked, scribbling down what he was saying.  
  
“Gimme a break… I’m an adult, lady, stop asking such stupid questions. Isn’t it obvious? I killed two people, I’m a disgraced ex-cop, that’s a perfect recipe for an easy-to-hate person.” Under his breath, he added with no lack of resentment, “And believe me, I know a lot about hate…”  
  
She nodded. “So, you consider yourself a hateful person?”  
  
He released a yawn. “Well, I did, when I committed the murders. Now I just don’t care. I lost the game, I accept it. The weak fall to the strong, that’s the way the world works…”  
  
“A game, huh? Is this attitude why you killed those people?”  
  
At that question, Adachi’s eyes narrowed again. “…Am I being tricked into another psych eval?” he asked, sitting up suddenly. Her interviewing style _did_ backfire sometimes…  
  
“No, I’m not, Adachi-“  
  
He stood up, pointing at her accusingly. “You’re a goddamn psychologist, aren’t you?! How many times do I need to prove I’m not insane?! I’m telling the truth about the TV World, about Persona, about everything!”  
  
Maya’s eyes widened in shock. “…Persona?” That was the last word she expected to hear, and it all came back in a flood. Tatsuya, Philemon, Nyarlathotep, the Other Side. These events had been so long ago... It almost felt like a dream. She never forgot, she swore she wouldn’t, but there were times it blurred into the past like memories do. Now… it was all so clear, like it happened yesterday.  
  
His eyes caught her own, and there was immediate recognition, a moment of connection that they both felt. How had she not noticed it sooner? “Oh, seems like you know what I mean!” Adachi said, leaning forward and smirking. “The power of Persona! You have it too, right?”  
  
“…” Maya stared, threatening to be swallowed up in her memories. “…I do, yes.”  
  
He fell back into his chair. “Wow, someone who gets it! Guess they finally picked one who isn’t worthless.”  
  
“…I’m not a psychologist, Adachi, or here to evaluate you,” Maya asserted, hunching forward over the table. “I’m Maya Amano, journalist for _Coolest_ , but I… do understand what you’re talking about. I have Persona myself.”  
  
It all made sense. The media never outright said what Adachi did to kill his victims, just that he had confessed and interrogations were underway. Even during the trial, it wasn’t disclosed publicly, but many knew it was harder to convict him than first thought. She heard about the TV method being thrown around many times during her research, branded the assertion of a madman, but she knew such strange events were possible. Hell, she had faced stranger, much stranger. The addition of Persona was the final piece of the puzzle.  
  
“I can’t believe it, finally!” Adachi laughed, hands covering face. “Too many think I’m just crazy. No, I knew what I was doing, and the world deserves to know that. That’s why I’m here and not in some mental asylum, am I right?”  
  
There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but anything pertaining to Persona couldn’t be published. She would be branded insane by the public at large if she did so. Oh, what the hell, why not? Not all of it needed to get in.  
  
“How did you come to obtain your Persona?” she asked with no lack of genuine curiosity. Did he play the Persona game? She couldn’t imagine Philemon bestowing someone like him the power. With a shudder, she wondered if it was Nyarlathotep’s doing.  
  
“It was some monster-god thing. Izanami, or whatever. Wanted to destroy the world by covering it in fog because humanity willed it. Got a little caught up in all that…” He chuckled, as if an attempt to end the world was comparable to an honest mistake.  
  
_Destroy the world because humanity willed it._ That reeked of the Crawling Chaos, and his old wager with Philemon over humanity’s fate. Humans were creatures of contradiction after all, hoping for both destruction and salvation unconsciously, and the conflict between Philemon and Nyarlathotep were these contradictions given form. Still, she knew in her heart that Philemon was right, that salvation would win out every time. And Izanami… she had an Izanami Persona once, so she doubted that was the ultimate power behind whatever Adachi was talking about. Maybe Adachi was just another pawn, like Kandori and the Sudou family before him, manipulated to bring out the worst in humanity. Well… she needed to find out.  
  
“Did the Persona help you in your murders?”  
  
“Nah, I didn’t know about it until it was too late. By that point, Yu and those brats he calls friends already had me cornered. They had Personas too, you know. You’d be surprised how many do.”  
  
She couldn’t say she was, she had met plenty of Persona users. “Sounds like you have lots of experience with it then?”  
  
“Not myself. But there are a couple of groups of Persona users out there I came across. Ha, the night I did I was even broken out of jail by some brat who wanted to destroy all life! Seriously, how many people out there want to do that now? Obviously, I came back. I don’t want to deal with that shit ever again.”  
  
The strange confession didn’t even faze her, and she had a feeling she knew the reason why there was so many looking to destroy humanity. “So, you weren’t happy having a Persona?”  
  
Adachi eyed her curiously, the question barely registering. “Nah, not really… Anyway, what’s your story?”  
  
A wince. She did not want to go into that. “I’m the one interviewing here, Adachi. Sorry.”  
  
“Fair enough, fair enough…” he mumbled, though she saw a faint smile twitch to life after her reaction.  
  
Oh, that would not stand. Despite herself, she continued. “But, I will tell you that I don’t regret my experiences with my Persona at all. It was tough, traumatizing even, but it helped me grow, and I wouldn’t be who I was today without it. If you simply took a different path, things would’ve turned out much better for you, I promise you that!”  
  
“How do you promise something that can’t happen?” Adachi snorted and scratched his unkempt hair. “I ruined my life and any potential it has… and I have a hard time finding regret for something I did to myself. Maybe the two other lives I ended, but not my own.”  
  
Maya’s gaze fell to her questions once again, the large **WHY?** staring back. “But… why? Why did you do it?”  
  
“Why did I kill? Because I was bored, and I could. Isn’t that enough of an answer for you?”  
  
“There’s something more to it, I can tell,” she noted, shaking her head. “As I said, I’m no psychologist, but I can tell you know right from wrong. You’re not an idiot, or mentally unstable.”  
  
“Flattery will get you nowhere,” Adachi purred with a sickening smile, his eyes undressing her.  
  
Her fist slammed on the table. “ _No!_ ” It was one word, but she said it with such authority it even gave the apathetic serial killer pause. “You’re more than this, I can tell!”  
  
“Don’t give me that bullshit,” Adachi grumbled. “Are you one of those stupid bitches who always goes back to the wrong guy, always sickeningly supportive and beaten down for your efforts while ignoring all the perfectly nice, single ones?”  
  
_Ugh._ Even if he was a serial killer, that certainly didn’t earn him any brownie points. “This isn’t about supporting you, this is about finding the truth!” The truth that was turning out to be more important than she originally thought.  
  
He released a bitter laugh. “The truth, huh? You remind me of Yu, ya know that? Stupid kid, always so nice and positive, thought he could reach the truth…”  
  
Obviously, he wasn’t willing to divulge. Maybe she could discern his motives more indirectly. “Yu. He was the Persona user you faced, yes?”  
  
Adachi rolled his eyes. “That idiot always talked to me, tried to find the best in me. He thought I was his friend! Even after he found out what I really was, he had a certain faith in me that I still don’t understand. Dumbass.”  
  
She smiled. “That’s called having a ‘true friend’ Adachi. A bond that will never break.”  
  
He gagged. “Don’t lecture me on bonds, I’ve had enough for a lifetime. Who needs them? The world is shit, it stands to reason everyone that is in it is shit as well.”  
  
“Oh really?” she asked, raising an eyebrow as she shuffled through her bag to find a particular paper. With a flourish, she pulled it out. “I’ve done my research, you know. Who is this ‘Dojima’ who always visits?”  
  
His eyes widened, the shocked expression bringing Maya some satisfaction. “…An ex-partner of mine on the force.”  
  
“And yet he still makes time to visit you, after all this time, after all you’ve done. I’ve got the logs right here, I know it’s a regular event. That has to be a true bond if I’ve ever seen one.”  
  
“Sh-Shut up!” he exclaimed, diverting his eyes from her own, almost growling.  
  
“Maybe you had a hard time making bonds with others before, but you’re lucky to have met people like that, you know.”  
  
“Lucky…?” Adachi grumbled. “I don’t feel lucky. Every time I see Dojima’s stupid face, I’m just reminded that he’s a sentimental idiot who considers a murderer his friend. A murderer who _put his daughter’s life in danger_ by the way.” When he said that, she caught a flash of something new in his expression. Sorrow and remorse.  
  
She was beginning to pick up on a theme. “Despite your high and mighty attitude, you don’t talk too highly of yourself. Some of the killers I meet very much still do.”  
  
“I killed two people. Does _anyone_ think highly of me?”  
  
“In a way, Yu and Dojima-“  
  
“What the hell do you know?!” Adachi snapped. “You say you’re not a psychologist, and yet you come in here lecturing me about stuff you have no clue about! You’re lucky you’re a Persona user, or I’d choke you out with these handcuffs!” As if to emphasize his point, he slammed his hands and said cuffs on the table.  
  
She simply stared and smiled at him, unimpressed, and hoped that security wouldn’t take that as an invitation to end things. That would be troublesome. “I know you wouldn’t do that, even if I wasn’t a Persona user. You don’t have the stomach for it, and that would interrupt any punishment you’re seeking for the murders, right? Saki Konishi and Mayumi Yamano. You want to add Maya Amano to that list?”  
  
They watched each other for a minute, each daring the other to make a move. Then, with a huff, Adachi leaned back in his chair, seemingly admitting defeat. “…Yeah, I don’t feel highly about myself. So, what? I wasn’t going anywhere, doing anything. My job as a cop went in the complete opposite way I wanted it to…”  
  
That was clearly important, she needed to keep him talking about that. “A cop, huh? What compelled you to become one, anyway?”  
  
“To carry a gun.”  
  
She glared. “You already know what I’m going to say to that.”  
  
Adachi groaned. “You want an explanation? Fine. I’ll give you one. I was a cop because I really wanted to be one. It was my dream, my… ideal I guess. I thought they were cool when I saw them on TV, and I thought I would be cool if I was like that, carrying a gun with all that authority. Busting criminals and taking names, ya know? I studied my ass off, I was at the top of my class in the academy, I was a good shot, but when I finally did enter the force, I wasn’t happy. No one gave me any respect, I couldn’t make any friends, I didn’t get to do anything cool or badass. All the rookies would get promoted before me. This was what I wanted to do, it was what I was good at! But was I _actually_ good at it? Was this the best life had to offer me? I realized that this had to be it. This was what I wanted more than anything after all, I had achieved my dream, and yet… I hated everything. I was at my peak, and it sucked. What’s even the point in trying, then, when not even your dreams matter? When the more talented will always do better?!” With a snarl, he ended his rant.  
  
That… was a lot to take in. She took a deep breath before replying. “There are ups and downs in life, but you can’t say that was your peak. People improve over time. You’re only in your 20s, you had a whole life ahead of you! And you threw it all away…” No matter how many murderers she interviewed, she still couldn’t understand why. It just simply wasn’t in her to.  
  
“I threw out garbage, that’s all I did.”  
  
Maya couldn’t stop a growl from escaping her lips as she resisted the urge to slap him. “It’s an insult to life itself that you gave up so easily, that you killed those poor people. If you kept at it, who knows what would have happened? It could’ve all changed, easily. But now here you are, in jail for perhaps the rest of your life.”  
  
He held up his hands. “Hey, when did life itself give you the authority to speak for it? It’s not like I didn’t try! It just felt like nothing worked out for me…”  
  
“So, let me guess, you blamed and took it all out on the world rather than try to change yourself? How sad and selfish!”  
  
He shrugged, the chastising not bothering him. “I guess I was. The mundane torture that was my life on the force went on for years before they decided to throw me away in that hick town. I was bored out of my mind there, getting disrespected as always, when I heard a rumor about the Midnight Channel and how it could show you your soulmate.”  
  
Maya’s eyes narrowed slightly. _Rumor, huh?_  
  
“I drank a lot of beer, sat down in front of the TV, and saw Mayumi Yamano. ‘That cheating slut is my soulmate?!’ was what I thought. ‘As if things couldn’t get any worse with my life!’” He rubbed his forehead, sighing. “As you probably know, it wasn’t a conscious choice of mine to kill her. It was an accident. I met her, and pushed her in the TV before I even knew I could do that… and then I decided to do it again because, well, if the world was so unfair to so many, why not have some fun with it before returning to the dirt we came from?”  
  
It was clear by this point Adachi was a more regular case than she assumed, supernatural murder methods aside. There were many people out there like him. Alone, disillusioned, continually stewing in their own hate in an endless cycle with no one to pull them out. No one to help until it boiled over and began to burn others. Harm others. Kill others.  
  
She found her thoughts wandering to Tatsuya Sudou, as they tended to do during these interviews. He was the JOKER, a case which continued to haunt her to this day, a fact about her life she despised more than anything. She remembered his insane rants, his descriptions of cutting tendons so the victims couldn’t escape, the bloody paper bag he wore on his head like he was a kid playing pretend, his maniacal laughter as he burned down a museum full of children that she and her friends barely managed to save. She also remembered his rants about his father hating him and locking him up, his mad screeching about the voices, the influence Nyarlathotep had over not only him, but many others. She had little sympathy for him, no, he was long gone now. But the wrong path started somewhere, and it wasn’t always a quick decision for one to make. Sometimes it creeped up on you, and a choice had been made before you were even aware there was one.  
  
“Um, you good Ms. Amano?”  
  
Adachi’s question, easily the nicest thing he had said thus far, broke her out of her musings. She cleared her throat and brought herself back into focus. “Yes, I’m fine.”  
  
“You were staring into space for a minute there. Stress of the job catching up to you?” he said it all with a wink and a pleasant smile. This must be the Adachi people saw before they knew the truth. The goofy, friendly neighborhood detective. He slipped into it so easily it was alarming.  
  
“I’m just thinking about what you said. Who told you the rumor about the Midnight Channel?”  
  
“I couldn’t remember before, but now I know it was that Izanami thing. It told others about the Channel too.”  
  
“And you said it planned to end humanity because humanity itself willed it?”  
  
“Basically… Look, I get that you’re interested in this, but I don’t really know much more than what I did. I was more of an errand boy, I guess. Ask Yu if you have to, but I’m not sure where he is right now.”  
  
Maybe a visit to Inaba would help in both the article and figuring out what was really going on… No matter, she needed to focus on the here and now.  
  
“Did you wish to be a journalist as a kid, Ms. Amano?”  
  
She wasn’t surprised that he asked her that, and she decided to play along. The answer came easy, and an image of her father flashed in her mind. “I did, actually!”  
  
“Is this what you imagined? Spending your time talking to a piece of shit like me? I doubt it was.”  
  
He was right on a certain level. She never expected this would be her specialty, but her father was a war correspondent, which she learned the hard way was infinitely worse. “I didn’t specifically imagine it, no. But I’m not unhappy if that’s what you’re implying.”  
  
“Really?” Adachi smiled smugly. “I can see a certain… unrest within you. You don’t want to be here. You wanted to be a journalist, and yet you’re not where you really want to be, just like I was. See what good holding on to ideals gets you?”  
  
She shook her head. “You presume too much about me. My life isn’t perfect, but I find it fulfilling. Ideals may not be as amazing as they first seem, but everyone has the potential to reach what they want if they try hard enough. And, as I said, throwing your life away instead of trying is-!”  
  
“‘The ultimate insult to life itself’… yeah, got it the first time. I already told you, I did try.” He shrugged and leaned back in his chair. “I tried so hard, for so many years, and I couldn’t be happy. I searched for happiness, yearned for it, and still it escaped me. Am I incapable of happiness? Where did it all go wrong?”  
  
“Well… there’s no way for _me_ to know. That’s for yourself to figure out.”  
  
“Got a lot of time to do that,” he said, laughing.  
  
“…Of course, you don’t have to go at it alone.”  
  
That stopped his chuckling. “Yeah, well, that’s what I’d rather do.”  
  
“It is clear that Yu and Dojima see something in you that not even you do. Maybe whatever that is, is the key? As I said, that’s for you to find out, but they could definitely help.”  
  
“And, say they even decide to, what could they help me find?”  
  
“A reason for living.”  
  
Adachi winced.  
  
“Now that you’re in here, they’re your best shot to actually have something. What you were looking for was staring you right in the face and you didn’t even bother to look. Take the opportunity while you can.” She thought of Tatsuya, Lisa, Eikichi, Jun, the friends she had to lose. “Appreciate what you have, even if its small! Not doing that was your biggest mistake before it all went so wrong.”  
  
Adachi had killed two people, and put many others in danger. There was no changing this fact. Most would say that, for him, living alone in prison while being jeered at and disrespected constantly was a fitting punishment for the terrible things he had done. But, wasn’t that what drove him to what he became? How would rehabilitation be possible in such an environment? Even Adachi would say he didn’t deserve sympathy, but this was about more than simple pity. This murderer knows what he did was wrong, and is perfectly willing to accept his punishment. All there needed to be was a simple push in the right direction, and genuine redemption was in sight. And isn’t that what prison was for, at least in theory? Adachi looked more uncomfortable now than she had seen before, cringing at her words and wilting under her considerate gaze.  
  
“Gimme a break…” That was all he said.  
  
Was redemption possible? If it was what he wanted, he could achieve it. If not, that would be his choice. Whatever he decided wasn’t up to her at all, and she refused to pull out any hair over it.  
  
“Do what you want Adachi. Just remember to think positive!”  
  
“…This ‘big heart’ shtick of yours always there, or do you reserve it for convicted felons?”  
  
“Ha… very funny!” she replied.  
  
Maya looked down at her notes. During their conversation, she had scribbled down so much, pages and pages of them, some of it almost indecipherable. Somehow, she was going to have to edit this into a coherent article. What did she learn? Adachi’s reason for doing what he did, part of his life story, a look into his worldview, plus strong speculation that an old enemy was still around. All in all, not bad. “…I think I’ve gotten what I needed, Mr. Adachi,” she said, chair scraping on the concrete as she stood up and held out a hand. “and I hope you did too. Thank you for your time.”  
  
“…Yeah, whatever,” he said in a hushed voice. He rose and hesitantly shook the waiting hand, cuffs making the gesture somewhat awkward.  
  
She knocked on the door, alerting the guards that it was all over. Adachi’s gaze wouldn’t leave the floor as he was escorted out.  
  
As she walked outside, she was pleasantly surprised to see that the torrent of rain had turned into a light drizzle. A beam of sunlight peaked from behind an opening in the lightened clouds, warming her face as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Clearly, the battle she had been a part of all those years ago was not over. Nyarlathotep and the dark depths of the human unconscious he represents will always rise to take advantage of those with muddled, confused minds, to threaten the end of everything, all to prove whether humanity had the power to overcome its own shortcomings or not. But, she also knew that there will always be those who will carry the torch to oppose that, those with strong hearts and wills that’ll fight tooth and nail to ensure humanity’s continued survival. Yu and his friends were a few of many, she surmised. And, if, by chance, she was called on once again, she would be there, ready to help and think positive.  
  
With excess optimism and plenty of ideas on how to write the article swimming in her head, she drove back home, a blue butterfly flying unknowingly overhead.

**Author's Note:**

> Realized these two's world views were pretty much the opposite of each other, so I thought it'd be fun to throw them into a room together for a bit and see what I could come up with.


End file.
